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Offspring
1984 The Offspring is an American rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California. The band was formed by guitarist Dexter Holland and bassist Greg K., who met on their high school cross-country team, under the name "Manic Subsidal". The decision to form a band came outside of a Social Distortion concert when both were refused entry. Doug Thompson was added for vocals, and Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman, the school janitor, was welcomed into the band, allegedly because he was old enough to purchase alcohol for Holland and Kriesel, both of whom were under the legal drinking age. The band used Thompson's friend, Jim Benton, as their drummer. Thompson was eventually forced out of the band, while Benton left. This led to Holland taking over on vocals, and James Lilja joining as the drummer. 1985 The band changed their name to "The Offspring" 1986 The band released their first single; the 7" "I'll Be Waiting/Blackball". They released the single on their self-made Black Label record company, which was named after the brand of beer named Black Label. Lilja quit shortly after the release to pursue a medical career in gynecology, and was replaced by Ron Welty, who was only 16 years old at the time. 1987 1988 After recording a demo, The Offspring signed a record deal with a small-time label, Nemesis Records. A six-week national tour followed, but Noodles was later stabbed during their Hollywood anti-nuclear benefit. 1989 The band teamed up with producer Thom Wilson (of Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion and The Vandals fame) to record their first album JUNE 15 The debut album, titled The Offspring is released. The album was released in limited numbers by the label, only in a 12" vinyl format, and a proper CD release did not surface until 1995. 1990 1991 FEB '''The Offspring teamed up with Wilson again to produce the Baghdad 7" EP. This EP was instrumental to the band's signing with Epitaph Records. Wilson had been trying to get The Offspring to switch to Epitaph, a label run by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Gurewitz felt that The Offspring was just not quite pronounced enough for his label, but Baghdad convinced him to give the band a shot. The EP, They Were Born to Kill is released 1992 Wilson and The Offspring returned to the studio to record their second album Ignition '''OCT 16 The album Ignition is released. The album exceeded all of the label's and band's expectations. The band went on tour for the next two years with other punk bands such as Pennywise, and ska punk bands like No Doubt and Voodoo Glow Skulls. 1993 When The Offspring returned to the studio to work on their third album, the band's relations with producer Thom Wilson had begun to strain. 1994 APR 8 The band released what would become their biggest selling CD, titled Smash. This album set the all-time record for most units sold by an independent label band at 16 million records. Smash has continued to sell consistently well in the fifteen years since its release, and has also been certified 6x Platinum in the United States. The album also sold very well outside the U.S., particularly in Australia, where it debuted #1 on the ARIA Charts for three weeks in 1995. MAY The video for the single Come Out and Play is shot They released their first major single "Come Out and Play" AUG The music video for Self Esteem is shot The single "Self Esteem," is released. The song made the top 10 in various countries. After the release of Smash, and armed with a newly expanded income, the band decided to buy out the rights to their first album. Holland and Greg K. then created their own record label, Nitro Records, and started signing bands. One of their first releases was a re-release of their first album The Offspring. The label also signed a number of punk bands including The Vandals, Guttermouth and Jughead's Revenge. Soon after, Nitro Records became solely Dexter's responsibility. DEC 17 The video for "Gotta Get Away" is shot at the Fairgrounds Coliseum in Salt Lake City, UT 1995 The single "Gotta Get Away" is released and becomes a modest hit in several countries The band covered The Damned classic "Smash It Up" for the Batman Forever soundtrack and released it as a single 1996 The Offspring left Epitaph and signed with Columbia Records. The band began writing and recording their fourth album, titled Ixnay on the Hombre DEC 31 The first single, "All I Want", from the upcoming album is released. The single was also (at 1:55) the shortest single to be released by the band 1997 JAN 1 The EP, Club Me is released FEB 4 The album Ixnay on the Hombre is released, which happened to be Noodles' 34th birthday. This album was not as successful as Smash, although it did sell four million units. The album saw the band move away from the political-punk themes common to many Epitaph bands, and more into mainstream rock FEB The single "Gone Away," is released. The single reached Gold in Australia, selling 35,000 copies. It was the first single released by the Offspring to reach Gold status in any country The single "Cool to Hate" is released and failed to chart. As is there next single "The Meaning of Life" The fifth and final single from Ixnay on the Hombre is released "I Choose." The video for "I Choose" was directed by Holland himself. Dexter commented that Ixnay probably wasn't as well-received as Smash was because it was such a departure, and that many fans probably were expecting Smash Part Two. 1998 NOV 9 The single "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" is released from the upcoming album. It achieved significant pop and alternative radio play and popularity, peaking at number 53 on the US charts, and reaching #1 in charts in ten countries. It is one of The Offspring's most commercially successful singles 17 The Offspring released Americana. Also released on this day is the EP, A Piece of Americana 1999 MAR 30 The single "Why Don't You Get A Job" is released. The song was a mainstream success AUG 4 The compilation CD, The Offspring Collection is released SEP 21 The single "The Kids Aren't Alright" is released. Despite not being as commercially successful as its predecessor singles, the song remains the most-listened to Offspring song amongst Last.FM and Spotify (where it also is the most popular song of the 90s) users, and still receives some radio play OCT 19 The fourth and final single from Americana is released "She's Got Issues". Zooey Deschanel appears in the video to the song The band appeared as themselves in the film Idle Hands. They played a cover version of "I Wanna Be Sedated" (originally by The Ramones) and "Beheaded" at a school dance before Holland's character is killed. They also appeared at the infamous Woodstock, where their performance was broadcast live on pay-per-view television. DEC 14 The DVD "Americana" is released. 2000 OCT 24 The single "Original Prankster" is released and is taken from the upcoming album. The song features additional vocals by Redman. NOV 14 The band release their sixth album called Conspiracy of One. The band intended to release the entire album online through their official website, to show their support for downloading music on the internet. However, under threat of legal action by Columbia through their parent company Sony, only the first single "Original Prankster" was released on their official website (the rest of the record was leaked to fan sites). The band also sold T-shirts on their website with the Napster logo on it and donated money to Napster creator Shawn Fanning with the profits. The band release the DVD Huck It 2001 JAN '''10 and 11 The music video for the single "Want You Bad" is filmed in Los Angeles '''FEB 13 The single "Want You Bad" is released. JUNE 26 The single "Million Miles Away" is released. The song is fairly popular among many Offspring fans, often called the best on Conspiracy of One despite its release as a third single NOV The music video for "Defy You" is filmed DEC 8 The music video for "Defy You" debuts on MTV 18 The single "Defy You" is released and was made for the movie Orange County. 2002 The band also released a new single "Defy You" exclusively for the film Orange County. 2003 Long-time drummer Ron Welty left the band to start Steady Ground, a band in which he plays drums and co-produces. Neither Welty or the remaining members have elaborated on the departure. DEC 9 The band released their seventh album Splinter. The Offspring recruited Josh Freese to record the drums for Splinter and later announced that Atom Willard would be the official replacement for Ron Welty. 16 The single "Hit That" is released and enjoys moderate success on MTV. "Hit That" is the first single by The Offspring to include synthesizer samples. The main synthesizer riff is based on "We Are the Chopped" by the Canadian band Nomeansno. The album's original title was to be Chinese Democrazy (You Snooze, You Lose), from the name of the long-delayed album by Guns N' Roses. As a result, Axl Rose filed a cease and desist order against The Offspring, but eventually began to calm down when he realized the date this was announced was April 1. 2004 APR 13 The single "(Can't Get My) Head Around You" is released. A music video was released in support of the single. The video clip features the band playing in a dome lit by fluorescent lights and was shot with over 600 cameras, in what the band's website calls 'the ultimate performance video' The single "Spare Me the Details" is released only in New Zealand and Australia. It was the first acoustic single to be released by the Offspring. The song was in the top twenty most played songs on Australian radio for three years straight, despite not charting well there 2005 JUNE 20 The band released a Greatest Hits album in both DualDisc and regular CD editions. They also released the single "Can't Repeat" from the Greatest Hits album. JULY 19 The band released a video DVD with all of their music videos, and some videos from a live show. It is entitled Complete Music Video Collection During the summer, the band played the Vans Warped Tour for the first time, and followed that with a tour of Europe and Japan. 2006 After the "Greatest Hits" world tour the band took a break from writing, recording and touring. During the hiatus, Willard was recruited by Tom DeLonge for his band Angels & Airwaves and released an album, We Don't Need to Whisper, in 2006. NOV It was reported that The Offspring were back in the studio recording their eighth studio album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace with producer Bob Rock and "a fistful of demos". 2007 JULY Dexter announced that the band had finished two more songs and the album was being recorded in Orange County, California. The album, in its entirety, can be streamed online for free at iMeem.com. JULY 27 It was announced, that former Saves the Day drummer Pete Parada had been chosen to be The Offspring's new drummer, replacing Atom Willard, who went on to join Angels and Airwaves. The band's first shows with Parada were at the Summer Sonic festival in Japan. It was during these shows that the band debuted "Hammerhead" which would become the first single from the new album. Parada did not play on the new album however; Josh Freese once again handled drum duties, as he did with Splinter. 2008 APR 9 Dexter announced that the album would be called Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace and would be released on June 17. Epitaph Records announced that the label would be re-issuing Ignition and Smash; both albums were remastered, and Smash contained a new 24 page booklet. The re-issues were released on the same day as Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, coinciding with the new album's release MAY '''2 The world premiere of the song "Hammerhead" took place on May 2 at 6 PM PST on KROQ Los Angeles (their hometown station). 5 The Offspring's official site provided an MP3 download of the song "Hammerhead" to the general public 6 The album's first single, "Hammerhead", was released as a digital download 16 The supporting tour for the album began with a performance at the X-Fest festival in California. 28 It was announced on the band's website that Scott Shiflett (from Face to Face) would replace bassist Greg K on current tour dates due to a birth in the family. '''JUNE '''Kriesel returned in mid-June. '''JUNE 17 The album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is released SEP 4 The single "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" is released. The song peaked at #1 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song stayed at number one for 11 weeks, making it the longest run for any Offspring single at #1 and one of the most commercially successful singles released by the band OCT '''With the addition of touring guitarist Andrew Freeman, the band embarked on a 3 week Japanese tour followed by a tour of South America. '''DEC 13 The Offspring headlined the nineteenth annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. In an interview at the Almost Acoustic Christmas show, guitarist Noodles stated that The Offspring would be taking a break for a month or two and promised a US tour to kick off in 2009. They are currently touring North America on their "Shit is Fucked Up" tour from May through July with Dropkick Murphys, Alkaline Trio, Street Dogs, Pennywise, Shiny Toy Guns, Sum 41 and Frank Turner. DEC The song Kirsty, Are You Doing Okay is released on Rock Radio 2009 FEB 2 The music video for "Kirsty, Are You Doing Okay" was made with director Lex Halaby and it premiered on AOLmusic.com. 10 The song Kirsty, Are You Doing Okay is released on Mainstream Radio MAY In an interview with Calgary, Alberta, Canada's X92.9, guitarist Noodles stated that frontman Dexter Holland had been working with Bob Rock again in Hawaii for what would be the ninth Offspring album. Also in that interview, he said that the album may include some songs that never appeared on Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace. MAY 12 The single "Half-Truism" is released JUNE Frontman Dexter Holland told OC Register that he wanted to try not to have the ninth Offspring record take as long as Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace. In regards to a new album, Holland told Rolling Stone that the band had conversations about working with Bob Rock again and plans to have the new album out sometime in 2010. Noodles also told the Edmonton Sun that the Offspring were planning to begin recording in the fall of 2009. He also said "We don't have any songs yet. Maybe a couple of demos here and there. But we're looking at old songs and seeing if we could flesh those out." '''JUNE '''In an interview with Billboard, Noodles stated that Holland and producer Bob Rock "kinda went over a couple of things that were left off the last record" and "songs that were even left off Splinter or maybe even Conspiracy of One and kind of looked at some things with free eyes and see if there was anything there that can be worked on."